Berlin doubts Astana meeting to take place on January 15

Monday, January 5, 2015 - 17:45 (EET) Section: Latest news

Official Berlin is not certain whether the “Normandy Four” meeting scheduled for January 15 in Astana takes place.
The official Bundestag representative, Steffen Seibert, expressed his doubts, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“I cannot say yet whether the meeting occurs and if it does occur, when such a meeting will be held. Such a meeting only makes sense when we can achieve real progress,” Seibert said.
However, the government representative said that he clearly understands what “the real progress” means. According to the official, it means “above all, the full implementation of the Minsk peace agreements and honoring genuine and long-lasting ceasefire, setting up the contact line between the territories controlled by Ukraine and the insurgents, withdrawal of heavy weapons.” Berlin officials believe such conditions have to be prepared in advance.
As a reminder, the meeting of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France representatives at the level of senior diplomats is taking place now in Berlin. Oleksiy Makeyev, Director of Policy and Communications Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represents Ukraine at the meeting.